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Books : Fiction : Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards : Authors A-Z : F : Fine, Anne
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Anne Fine's Up On Cloud Nine is possibly one of the best books you will ever read. Character-led, beautifully crafted, uplifting and life-affirming, Fine's masterpiece tells the story of a deep friendship between two boys, Stolly and Ian. The pair are introduced to the reader at the point where the accident-prone Stolly is lying unconscious in a hospital bed having survived a rather spectacular plummet to the ground from a very high window.As the pair are caught in the sterile time-warp of the hospital, waiting for the arrival of their respective parents, Ian contemplates Stolly's life: a Walter Mitty character who insists he is not a liar but a fantasist, who unflinchingly speaks as he finds and is blessed with a mind and imagination so receptive to experience that occasionally his words and actions are shocking to those around him.
As the waiting continues Ian, circled by a social worker who is concerned at the alarming regularity of Stolly's hospital visits, pieces together the good, the funny, the bad and the downright ugly, compiling a comprehensive biography that ultimately leads him to believe that his remarkable friend's accident may not have been an accident at all.
Anne Fine is certainly on form in this extraordinary, unforgettable novel--the lady rarely disappoints, with sure-fire winners such as Goggle Eyes, Flour Babies and Madame Doubtfire enticing new generations of readers into her world. But with Up On Cloud Nine she really hits the spot with a sublime, involving novel that is a deceptively quick and simple read, yet contains all the hallmarks of a classic work of fiction. It may sound overdramatic, but everyone--and that includes adults--should read this to remind themselves that a really good book can lift the spirits and leave you with seriously rosy glow. Age 9 and over. Susan Harrison
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Bonny is certainly not keen to spend a day at Charm School, but her mother has to sit an exam and can't find a babysitter so she bites the bullet and heads off for a day of sheer agony.As the delightfully bitchy Charm School girls--prissy little Tinkerbells with fluffy hair and glittery dancing shoes--rev up for the competition to win the glistering tiara of Miss Supreme Queen, the confused and self-conscious Bonny finds herself in the middle of an out-and-out, no-holds-barred, war. Anne Fine has never fought shy of digging for emotional truth in her work, and here the author of Madame Doubtfire and Goggle-Eyes, doesn't fail the reader for one second as she skilfully takes one day in the life of a group of little girls and gives an exquisite, achingly sad yet robustly comical insight into what makes us all tick. --Susan Harrison